


Reunited

by cynical_mystic



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 12:55:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20390041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cynical_mystic/pseuds/cynical_mystic
Summary: Extended version of the female Byleth/Claude S-rank support ending.*SPOILER WARNING**Complete*





	1. Adjustments

As Hilda helped me prepare for my coronation, I couldn’t help but think back to the day Claude left for Almyra. 

_ The feeling of being in Claude’s arms was the best thing I’d ever felt, and also the worst. My best friend and fighting partner was leaving for his homeland, and while his intentions were noble and I wholeheartedly agreed he needed to leave, my heart was still breaking. I clutched the ring he’d given me tightly; the warm metal cut into my skin. He pulled me tighter to him as he continued speaking. _

_ “I love you. With everything I am. And the next time we see each other… it will be at the dawn of a whole new world. A peaceful, happy world.” _

_ Tears sprung to my eyes as I clutched at Claude’s cloak. Tears of joy for the hope of the future. Tears at being without him for my coronation, and an undetermined amount of time afterwards.  _

_ He gently caressed the back of my head, holding me gently as I cried. _

_ “Nothing will keep me from coming back to you.” _

Now, my heart was still aching as Hilda worked on my hair. I’d taken to wearing Claude’s ring on a string around my neck, tucked beneath my clothes. It rested over my heart, the only place I could keep him for now. 

“You look so sad, Professor,” Hilda said. “You should cheer up! It won’t do for our new queen to look distraught on her coronation day.”

I glanced at myself in the mirror in front of us and sighed. After a few attempts at looking cheerful and failing, I settled for the blank expression I’d worn for so much of my life. A shield between me and the world.

“That’s a little better,” she sighed. “I suppose it’ll have to do.”

Hilda finished arranging my hair and stepped back to admire her handiwork. She’d done it in a series of intricate braids, perfect for supporting the simple crown we’d discovered in one of the abandoned rooms in the monastery. All other symbols of rule, the headdress Edelgard had worn and the crown of Faerghus as well as the adornments worn by the Sovereign Duke of the Alliance left behind by Claude, had been destroyed at my request and with the agreement of my students. Ignatz had painted them to preserve them for history, but all of them had agreed it would be best to do away with them completely and find something new.

“It’s lovely, Hilda,” I said. “Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome!” she said enthusiastically. “Now for the ceremonial robe!”

Later, after the coronation and the requisite feast, I sent messengers to all the remaining powers in Fódlan requesting they come to Garreg Mach to swear fealty to the United Kingdom of Fódlan. After this was completed, I planned to move the capital city to the old capital of the Alliance, Derdriu. We’d considered having it in Garreg Mach, but Rhea had requested we leave the monastery as the church’s capital instead of having it double as the state capital.

As the evening drew on, I made my way to my room. Rhea had offered me one of the professor rooms upstairs, but I wanted to spend my last few days at the monastery in the room I’d had while I’d been teaching. I closed the door behind me and turned, half expecting to see Sothis hovering in the corner, invisible to everyone but me.

But I was alone. 

I gently removed my crown and laid it on the table at the head of my bed. The robes were difficult to remove on my own, but I managed to get them on a hook on the wall with few issues. I changed into my nightclothes, Claude’s ring brushing softly against my skin.

_ “Nothing will keep me from coming back to you.” _

With a sigh, I climbed into bed.

_ Come back soon. _


	2. A Reunion

The next few months were quite eventful. We successfully moved the capital city, Rhea recovered enough to resume her duties as Archbishop of the Church of Seiros, and my students began to move on with their lives. Unfortunately, not everything went as well as I had hoped it would. With the announcement of Lorenz’s engagement to Marianne came reports of an army marching on Derdriu. Some reports said it was the Imperial Army, others claimed it to be those who slither in the dark, so I’d ordered my general to treat it as though it were a combination.

As reports began to come in of the army’s impending arrival and we tried to scrounge up troops from everywhere in Fódlan we could think of, I lamented the loss of the Sword of the Creator as well as my students. None of them could come as they were all attending to their own duties. Rhea had told me I had the power of the Goddess because of my merging with Sothis, but I’d never been able to tap into anything other than turning back time. I found myself praying for some kind of miracle, but also found myself unable to decide who I should be praying to. Does Sothis exist to protect Fódlan if she merged with me?

Despite the prayers of myself and the efforts of my military force, we found ourselves on the verge of defeat. We hadn’t been able to rally as many troops as we’d been hoping to as the civil war had severely decimated the population. As such, I found myself on the battlefield wondering if this is how Edelgard had felt as we’d stormed the Empire’s capital all those months ago.

I’d ordered my army to retreat, but they’d refused. They believed in our ability to win and our values. Everyone was tired of the old Fódlan except for those who were marching against us.

As I raised my sword to cut down another soldier, knowing ten more would take his place, I heard a distant battle cry. My opponent was sufficiently distracted, allowing me to win the encounter, and I took a moment to look to where the sound had come from.

Soldiers were pouring into the city, wielding the banner of Almyra.

My heart leapt and I searched the skies anxiously, praying with every fiber of my being.

A lone wyvern rider swooped down over the city walls, and the man astride the creature wore the colors of the ruling house.

I turned to find an Imperial soldier bearing down on me. I raised my weapon to defend myself, and as I struck the soldier with my sword he was also struck with an arrow. He fell to the ground, and a rush of wind struck me as the wyvern rider landed.

“Need a hand?”

Turning, I indeed found an outstretched hand waiting for mine. I ran my eyes up and found myself face-to-face with Claude. He was wearing his characteristic grin and as I watched, he winked at me.

I grabbed his hand and he hauled me up onto the wyvern behind him. Together, with his forces and my own reinvigorated ones, we defeated the remnants of the Imperial Army and those who slither in the dark.

Finally, the United Kingdom of Fódlan could properly rebuild.


	3. A Promise

“You’re King of Almyra now?” I asked.

Claude and I were in my personal study. He was relaxing on my lounge chair and I was sitting on the edge of one of my armchairs, hands clasped in my lap. It was all I could do to keep myself from throwing myself into his arms.

“Yep,” he replied, not taking his eyes off me. “When I returned, I walked right into a power struggle. Apparently there were several potential heirs to the throne, and thanks to my father’s bloodline I could stake a claim as well. It took me a while to convince the others I was in fact the Crown Prince, but once I did I was allowed to compete for the throne.”

“Compete?”

“Yes, in Almyra if there’s ever a challenge for leadership, whether it be after the current monarch dies or another potential successor thinks the current leader is unfit, a challenge is held where every person with a claim to the throne competes. My absence upon the previous leader’s death had left room for such a challenge.

“Not long after my coronation, Hilda sent me a letter telling me of the army marching on your capital. Naturally I mobilized my own forces at once, as it was time for me to return to you.”

My breath caught in my throat as he finished speaking.

Slowly, he sat up in his chair and mirrored my position, but much more casually than I could manage at that moment.

“I told you I would come back to you,” he said softly. “Did you ever doubt that?”

I shook my head, unable to speak.

He took off his gloves and reached out his hand to me. As I took it, I found myself able to speak again.

“I missed you terribly,” I whispered, my voice hoarse.

“I missed you too, Teach,” he teased, his grin making my heart flutter.

“You really shouldn’t call me that anymore,” I replied, smiling as well. “I’m no longer your teacher.”

“You’re right, my friend. We’re finally equals.”

He squeezed my hand, and we sat in companionable silence for a moment before he spoke again.

“Do you still have that ring I gave you?”

I nodded.

“Do you?”

He nodded as well.

I reached up for the string his ring was hanging on and drew it out. He reached into a pocket in his cloak and pulled out the ring Jareth had told me to give to the person I loved. The one I’d given him that night on the Goddess Tower before he’d left.

“Will you marry me, my friend?” Claude asked, his voice hoarse and his usual lightheartedness gone.

I nodded and lunged forward. He caught me, pulling me into his lap and holding me as close as he could as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

“Of course I’ll marry you,” I said, leaning back to look him in the face.

I was reminded of the first time I’d invited him to have tea with me, not long after we’d been reunited after the five years we’d been apart. He’d been devilishly handsome then, but was even more so now. The closeness only enhanced the effect.

“Thank you,” Claude said. “Thank you for making me the happiest person in Fódlan.”

“I don’t think you can claim that honor,” I teased. “I’m extremely happy myself.”

“Fair enough,” he said, grinning again. “We can both be the happiest.”

“I can’t wait to help you make your dreams come true.”

“I can’t wait for them to come true with you by my side.”

Our wedding was beautiful, and we spent our rule tearing down the walls between Fódlan and the rest of the world. Eventually there was free passage throughout all lands, and the enhanced travel and trade made the surrounding kingdoms less keen to start wars. We dealt with the occasional political squabble, but the bloody history of Fódlan was truly at an end.

Claude and I had children, of course, and I was worried because of my union with Sothis they would be children with powers such as Rhea. My worries were not realized, and while our children did bear Crests, they were as normal as I’d hoped they’d be. They’d also mostly inherited Claude’s features, which I was thankful for. Our youngest son, however, grew to look exactly like Jeralt, and I couldn’t have been happier to know he had truly been my father.

Those who had been my students visited us regularly with their own children and families, and we lived in relative contentment until the end of our days. The Church of Seiros was still active, and we’d managed to keep my identity under wraps so people would refrain from worshipping me directly. Fódlan was at peace, and so was the rest of the world.


End file.
